Reminiscing
by Westing1992
Summary: Greg tells Steven about how Vidalia and the Crystal Gems started hanging out.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: I do not own Steven Universe._

* * *

It was a damp, overcast day in Beach City; It's a Wash was closed and all the other Gems, Peridot included, were off doing various tasks, and so Steven and his father were in the Beach House, playing 'Don't Wake Father Figure'. There were a couple of knocks at the door, which was then opened before either of them could get up to answer it.

"Steven!" called Vidalia. "Your friend said he wanted to play with you!" She stopped when she noticed Steven's father. "Greg, wow! I wasn't expecting you to be here too."

"Hey, Vidalia!" Greg replied. "Long time no see! How've you been?"

"Can't complain," said Vidalia. "Got married to Yellowtail and had another kid. He can be a handful at times, but we love Onion just the same."

"Wait, Onion's _your_ kid?" said Greg, acting as if he was noticing that the boy was inside the house for the first time. "Sheesh, you'd think that in a town with so few people, everybody'd know how everyone was related."

"You'd think," Vidalia chuckled. "Hey, is Amethyst here?"

"She and Pearl went on a mission," said Steven.

"That's a shame," said Vidalia. "I was hoping to keep my promise that we would see each other more after we reconnected a few months back."

"Well, that's not entirely your fault," said Greg. "The Gems and I also drifted apart for some time after Steven was born. There was a lot to deal with all at once, and there just weren't as many opportunities for us to get together."

"I probably should have at least kept in touch with her, but I was too busy raising Sour Cream, and then Onion, and it just kept slipping my mind." She thought for a bit. "Probably should have kept in touch with you as well. I mean, we didn't hang out together as much, but we still hung out."

"Well, to be fair, the way we started hanging out was fairly unusual to begin with."

"Really?" said Steven. "I sense a story about that!"

"Well, there's not really much to tell—"

"Story!"

"All right, all right." He sat down on the couch; Vidalia sat next to him, and their children plopped themselves onto the floor. "Well," he began, "the first thing you should realize is that when I tossed Marty out of my van, that wasn't actually the last time I saw him. Wait, hold on." He turned to Vidalia. "Hey, Onion knows about Marty, right?"

"Yeah," said Vidalia. "We don't really keep secrets like that from him."

"They really don't," said Steven.

"Well then," said Greg, "it was a few days after the concert…"

* * *

Greg was in the back of his van, which was on the beach in front of the temple, absent-mindedly strumming a few chords on his guitar. "I know I'm not that tall," he sang, "I know I'm not that smart, but let me drive my van into your heart. Hey, that's actually pretty good," he said, scribbling down the lyrics. "Now what else rhymes with 'heart'?"

Before he could continue, he was interrupted by an angry shout. " _There_ you are!"

Greg looked up. "Oh, hi, Marty," he said dismissively.

"I've been looking everywhere for you! I had to walk all the way back to town, locate the only bed and breakfast in it, and then spend half a week inquiring about you before finally finding you just lounging around on the beach! Now let's get going! We've lost enough time with that 'following your feelings' stupidity of yours as it is."

"I'm not going, Marty," said Greg. "I'm staying here."

Marty groaned. "I was hoping you were over this by now."

"Nope."

"Why? Because you've gone ga-ga over some girl? And where is she, anyway?"

"She's not around right now, but trust me, we're getting along fine."

Marty rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever. I'm sure you'd get along fine with any number of girls you'd meet on the tour. And speaking of the tour, what about that? You've got like, a dozen shows booked!"

"Yeah, wouldn't want to disappoint all my non-existent fans."

"That's not the point!" Marty cried. "You can't just drop all your responsibilities and do what you want to do!"

"Responsibilities to who?" Greg asked. "You? The managers of the clubs who only booked me because I was cheap? No thanks. I would rather uphold the neglected responsibility to _myself_ and actually be happy for once. And what makes me happy is being with the one woman who bothered to show up at my show in this town."

"So what, you're just going to shack up with this chick and mooch off of her?"

"Hey, man, just because _you_ would freeload doesn't mean everybody else would. Besides, I couldn't live with them if I wanted; they say the temple's too dangerous for a human, and I don't think they even have to eat."

Marty started to try to process the implications of Greg's statement concerning the Gems, but quickly decided it wasn't worth it. "So if you don't live with her, what are you going to do for money? Food? How are you going to _bathe_?"

"I was worried about that too, at first," said Greg, "but I took care of those things pretty quickly. As it turns out, I have an uncle that lives near here, and he's been paying me to clean up his barn. Lets me use his bathroom, too. After that, I'll get a job at, I don't know, the car wash or something."

"Really? You're resorting to manual labor?"

"Well, I was doing a lot of manual labor on the road anyway. Without roadies, I was setting up speakers and hooking up amps and doing a hundred other things—and you almost never lifted a finger to help, if I recall."

"Well, er…" Marty searched for a good comeback. "…well, at least you were doing those things in the name of music! You were doing it in the name of your passion!"

"I can have more than one passion, Marty," Greg said. "And while I can pursue my passion for music somewhere down the line, I feel I've only got this one chance to pursue my passion for Rose."

"Rose, huh? That the girl you hooked up with?"

"Yep."

"Well, forget her and go finish the tour!"

"I can't just 'forget' someone like Rose."

"Sure you can! You just have to—"

"Is this guy bothering you?"

Greg turned his head to see that Garnet had approached, mercifully interrupting Marty.

"A little, but I can handle it."

Garnet nodded, then turned to go back to the temple. Marty eyed her suspiciously.

"So, is that this 'Rose'?"

"No, that's just Garnet," said Greg. "The one I'm with is _twice_ as wonderful, at least."

"Yeah, I'm sure you think so now, but just wait. Over time, all her flaws will begin to show through."

"Like how your flaws showed through after I was around you for a couple years?"

Marty glared, then turned around to march back to town. "I'll be back!" he threatened.

"Take your time!" said Greg.

* * *

Marty indeed took his time, returning two full days later, though Greg wouldn't have minded if he had taken even longer or hadn't returned at all.

"I've spent the entire morning calling all the venues you were supposed to be at!" Marty said. "All your gigs are cancelled! Happy now?"

"Yes."

"That was rhetorical!"

"Hey, it's not even like I'm totally abandoning my dream of becoming a rock star. I'm just postponing it for a bit. And when I resume, it's gonna be on my terms, not yours."

"Listen here, you—"

"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

The two men turned to the newcomer, a woman who looked like she was in her early twenties. She wasn't one of the Crystal Gems, but Greg still thought he had seen her somewhere before.

"Hey, you're that one girl, aren't you?" said Greg. "The one Marty went to the party with. Violet, was it?"

"Vidalia."

"Oh right, sorry. I'm Greg."

He took Vidalia's hand and amiably shook it. Marty, on the other hand, looked annoyed.

"What are you doing here? I thought I made it clear that that was going to be a one-night thing."

"Well, I was just curious as to why the guy who said it was going to be a one-night thing was still in town."

"Because Romeo here fell in love," Marty griped. "And, as you no doubt know, that's the kiss of death for a rock star. I've been trying to convince him to just forget about what's-her-name, but—"

"Rose," Greg interrupted. "Her name is Rose."

"Who cares what her name is? Just forget about her! I mean, I forgot about Valerie here the moment we started heading out of town."

"I just told you my name was Vidalia."

"See? Totally forgot all about you!"

Vidalia didn't look that impressed.

"But as I told Marty," Greg said, "I can't just forget about Rose; I think there's some real chemistry between us. You see, we met after the concert—she was actually the only one at the concert—and there seemed to be a spark, and so I came back here to her, and I guess now we're dating."

"And her name is Rose?"

"Yeah, do you know her?"

Vidalia shook her head. "Not really. She only comes into town once in a while, so I've only heard about her secondhand. She's fairly mysterious." She looked up at the temple. "She doesn't live in _there_ , does she?"

"Yes, actually; her and her friends."

"There are others? Really? Cool!"

"Oh, come on, Greg!" Marty said. "This is the exact _opposite_ of trying to forget about her!" He turned and glared at Vidalia. "And you're not helping!"

Vidalia glared back.

Greg stood there uncomfortably.

"Wow, more humans!" Amethyst had emerged from the temple and bounded up to the van.

"Oh, hey there!" said Vidalia, her mood brightening considerably. "You one of Greg's friends?"

"Yeah! I'm Amethyst!"

"Well, my name's Vidalia, and Mr. Grumpy Pants over there is Marty."

"Hi Mr. Grumpy Pants!" Amethyst said.

Marty growled.

"You have cool hair too!" Amethyst said, playing with Vidalia's locks. She glanced at Marty. "He doesn't."

Marty growled some more.

"Aren't you just a cutie?" said Vidalia, tickling Amethyst's belly. Amethyst giggled.

"So what, this chick has a kid?" said Marty.

"Amethyst isn't her kid," said Greg. "And she isn't a kid anyway. Not technically."

"Oh, please," said Marty. "How old is she? Six, seven?"

"I'm over two thousand years old!" Amethyst said, grinning.

"No you're not," said Marty. "There's no way you could have lived that long."

"And there's no way I could turn into a kitten either, right?"

"Of course not, that would be—"

He stopped suddenly as he watched Amethyst turn into a kitten.

"…she just turned into a kitten," Marty said dumbly.

"Yeah, she does that," said Greg. "Not necessarily turning into kittens, but into, like, animals and stuff. It's weird at first, but you get used to it."

"Well, in any form, she's still adorable," said Vidalia, now petting the kitten.

"Thanks!" the kitten said.

Marty shook himself out of his stupor. "What—are you two just going to stand here and act like this is normal?"

"Well, no, it's not _normal_ ," said Vidalia, "but it doesn't seem to be anything to be afraid of either. It's just different."

"It's _weird_ , that's what it is!" shouted Marty. He pointed at Greg. "And maybe _you'll_ eventually see how weird it is too! Then you'll come _crawling_ back to me!" He stormed off.

Amethyst shifted back into her humanoid form and frowned. "I don't like that guy."

"Me either," said Greg.

Vidalia sighed. "I should start vetting who I hang out with." She turned to the others. "You two seem nice, though."

"Aw!" said Amethyst. "You seem nice too."

Vidalia smiled.


	2. Chapter 2

The next afternoon, Marty came back and found Greg, Vidalia, and Amethyst were sitting on the sand, watching TV.

"Hey, Marty, check it out!" said Greg. "Using the A/V equipment from my van, I was able to get access to over a dozen channels right here on the beach! And the reception's surprisingly decent, too!"

"I never knew this television stuff existed!" Amethyst gushed. "And you say it's been around for half a century?"

"A little less than that, but yeah," said Greg.

"Wow," said Amethyst. "I'm so glad you drove your van through the fence; otherwise we'd never have gotten with these latest trends."

"I heard this new show, _Little Butler,_ is pretty good," said Vidalia. "Not sure when it's on, though."

"So, you're still doing this, huh?" said Marty to Greg.

"Yup."

"When are you gonna wake up and realize that girl's not worth it?"

"Never, because Rose _is_ worth it," said Greg. "She's sweet, and kind, and beautiful, and fun to be around…"

"Funny, because it seems like she's _never_ around," said Marty.

"Well, she has a lot of places she needs to go most of the time. I assure you, she's back here at least a few times every day." He noticed a figure coming out of the cave. "In fact, that might be her now!" he said. "No, wait, that's just Pearl."

"Amethyst!" Pearl said as she came closer. "I thought you said you were going to clean your room up a little!"

"I was," said Amethyst, "but then I got distracted by television!"

"You were never going to actually clean it in the first place, were you?"

"Nope!

Pearl frowned, then noticed Vidalia. "Who's this?" she asked. "Is she a new romantic partner that you've grown to prefer over Rose, meaning that you'll leave her and the rest of us alone?"

"What? No, Vidalia's just a friend."

"Oh," said Pearl, sounding disappointed. "And who's the other male?"

"That's Marty. He emphatically _isn't_ a friend."

Marty harrumphed.

"Well," said Pearl, starting back to the temple, "if Amethyst's not going to clean up her room, I guess _I'll_ just have to do it."

"Don't you dare!" Amethyst shouted, racing after her.

Marty watched the two Gems go into the cave, then turned to Greg. "How many women are here anyway?"

"Just Rose, Pearl, Garnet, and Amethyst."

"Wow," said Marty. "You're practically living in a harem."

"It's not a harem, Marty."

"You know what I mean."

"I do know, and it's not a harem."

Marty rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I'm going back to the B&B."

"You know, you'd probably actually meet Rose if you stuck around for more than five minutes at a time!" Greg yelled. But Marty was already at the hole in the fence.

"I'm pretty sure he doesn't actually want to meet her," Vidalia said.

"Yeah," Greg sighed. "But what about you? Would you like to meet her?"

"I'd love to!" she said. She glanced at her watch. "Er, but not today. I lost track of time, and now I'm late! I need to get going too. Maybe tomorrow."

"Sure," said Greg. "I'll try to see if Rose can be here at, say, 4:30. Would that be a good time for you?"

"It'd be perfect!" said Vidalia.

"Alright! So, see you tomorrow!"

"Okay! See you!" Vidalia said, skipping off.

* * *

Marty was already waiting in the back of Greg's van when he returned to the temple at 4:15.

"Where were you?" Marty demanded. "I've been sitting here for hours!"

"I was cleaning up my Uncle's barn," Greg said. "It's a hard job; he won't let me throw anything out. He claims it all has 'sentimental value'."

"Well, you know what would be better than dealing with all that junk? Having a career as a musician, touring the country and playing songs!"

"Give it up, Marty. I'm not going back on tour, and even if I did, it's not going to be with you."

"Gah, why are you so stubborn?"

"Hey, guys." Vidalia walked up.

"Oh, hey, Vidalia!" Greg said cheerfully.

Marty wasn't as friendly. "Look, I'm trying to bore through my friend's thick skull here. Go bug someone else."

"It's just that I've got some news you'd like to hear."

"Unless it's gonna convince Greg here to get back on the road, I don't care."

"Marty, I'm pregnant."

This got Marty's attention. "You're what?"

"I'm going to have a baby, Marty. And you're going to be a father."

Marty scowled. "And so what do you want me to do, huh? Marry you or something? 'Cause you know, if Greg here hadn't gotten lovesick, we'd be two states over by now."

"I can take care of it perfectly well on my own, thank you. I just thought you'd like to know."

"Well, I don't! I would have been perfectly fine being in a completely different town, with a completely different girl, like I was supposed to! I wouldn't care if I ever saw you or your pregnant body again! And as soon as Greg comes to his senses, we're going to leave! So don't act like you're doing me a favor by trying to burden me with your personal problems!"

"Hey, man," Greg said angrily. "You can't just—"

He was interrupted by a giant creature emerging from the sea. Though this beast somewhat resembled an octopus, it was nothing like any pictures he had seen in books, or anything he had ever imagined, easily five times larger than himself and wearing a bright red, rock-like skin.

"What is that?" Vidalia shouted.

"You think I know?" said Greg. "I don't' know _everything_ about these women! All I know is that they're magic! They didn't say anything about any monsters!"

The three humans found themselves backed up against the cliffside with no direction to flee.

"Great, Greg!" Marty sniped. "Because _you_ just had to go chasing your dreams, all three of us are going to die!"

"This isn't the time, Marty!" Greg said.

"This is the perfect time! There won't be another time later!"

The creature slowly approached them, flailing its jewel-encrusted tentacles, and they huddled together, awaiting the inevitable…

Then suddenly Rose Quartz appeared in front of them, using the shield she was carrying to protect them from its blows. With the sword in her other hand, she swung at it, and the creature evaporated in a puff of smoke, leaving a small gemstone behind. Rose picked it up and placed a magic bubble around it, and then it vanished.

She turned around. "Are you three all right?"

"Just a bit shaken," said Greg. "What was that thing?"

"A Gem monster. They are drawn to the temple, and so we must defend against them from time to time. I understand if this makes you wary and you don't want to be around me anymore because of this."

"What? No!" said Greg. "I don't care if being around you means facing attacks like this, because you'll be around to take care of them! I mean, I'd have appreciated a heads up, but know that I know, I think I'll be prepared for them!"

"I thought it was quite exhilarating," said Vidalia.

"You know what? You two are crazy!" shouted Marty. "You're all crazy! You can stay here with the coven of witches and monster attacks all I care, but _I'm_ getting out of this town and finding a new musician to manage!" With that, he stormed off.

"Who was that?" Rose asked.

"Eh, not important," said Greg. "I doubt we'll ever be seeing him again."

"And what about this one?" Rose asked, indicating Vidalia. "Will we never see this one again either?" The other Gems—Amethyst, Pearl, Garnet—gathered around to look on.

"Uh, no!" said Vidalia. "I mean, um, yes, I mean… I'm not gonna hang out here all the time like Greg does, but I'd like to visit from time to time. If that's okay."

"Of course it's okay!" said Rose. "Now that there's a big hole in the fence, there's not much in the way of preventing humans from coming up here—as long as they're prepared to encounter things like those monster attacks."

Vidalia smiled. "I think I can handle it."

"Alright!" Amethyst shouted, running over to nuzzle her. The others also gave a warm welcome, though Pearl still showed some clear trepidation.

"Now," said Rose, "how about we go watch some of that 'television' that Amethyst has been going on about?"

Amethyst squealed in delight, and the group started walking over to the van. Greg, though, held Vidalia back.

"Do you want to talk about what you told Marty?" he asked.

Vidalia frowned and turned away. "I'll be fine."

"You sure? I mean, I'm no parent myself, but I'm pretty sure becoming one's a big deal."

Vidalia sighed deeply. "I guess I'm just… concerned a bit. I was telling the truth when I told Marty that I could raise it without him, but I'm beginning to worry if I can raise it at all." She started to sound anxious. "What if I'm a bad mother? I'd have to give up my party-girl lifestyle. What if I can't? Or what if I drift away from my friends? Or if they resent me for not partying all the time? Or if I resent them?

"Calm down, clam down," Greg said. "Believe me, you'll make a wonderful mother. You aren't like Marty, not caring about anyone but himself. But the way you're asking all of these questions—and the way you interacted with Amethyst—show me that you do care. As for your friends? Well, I don't know about your old friends, but I know that five new friends right here who you can count on.

"I know what it's like to make a big change in your life. Just a week ago, I was on tour, and now I'm here, dating a magical woman who fights monsters. It's strange, and a little scary sometimes, but I know that I can adjust—just like you can adjust too. And _you've_ got nine months to prepare. And just like I haven't totally abandoned my music, you don't have to totally abandon your free spirit. You just have to make room for it. Having fun all the time is, well, _fun,_ but there are more important things, like love, and family. And I have the feeling that, if you do it right, those can be pretty fun as well."

Vidalia smiled. "That was quite eloquent."

"Yeah, I know. Why can't I be that good when I'm writing lyrics?"

Vidalia chuckled and gave him a hug. "Thanks, Greg. I'm still sort of worried, but that helped a lot. Now how about we join the others and watch TV?"

Greg nodded. "Sounds good to me."

And so they went and joined the others.

* * *

"That was a really cool story, Greg," Amethyst said when he was done.

Greg started a bit at the presence of another listener.

"Amethyst!" Steven yelled, pleasantly surprised. "When did you get back?"

"About five minutes ago," she replied. "Me and Pearl took the sloop to an island, but it turned out that Pearl could do everything there by herself and there was nothing I could do to help, and it got pretty boring doing nothing, so I took the sloop back by myself."

"And you left Pearl there?" Greg said, somewhat alarmed.

"Eh, she said it'd take a while. She'll be fine. Anyway, I came back here and saw everybody gathered round, listening to Greg. I was gonna scare you all, but when I realized he was talking about the time we all first met each other, I decided to listen in too."

"Good for you," Vidalia said, laughing and tussling Amethyst's hair. "Well, now that the story's over, maybe Onion and Steven can play together while the rest of us catch up?"

"Or," said Amethyst, "we could all watch television together! Just like old times!"

Onion nodded vigorously and bounded up the stairs to the upper level, turned the TV on, and plopped himself down on Steven's bed. Amethyst and Steven followed.

Vidalia shrugged. "Sure, why not. As long as we make plans to meet again and, you know, actually _talk_."

"Sounds good to me," said Greg.

And so they joined their children (and Amethyst) in watching television, just like old times.


End file.
